MUNCIE, Ind. — The fate of the former BorgWarner Automotive plant on Muncie's west side was probably sealed on April 9, 2009, when the jobs of about 150 remaining producton workers ended in the plant's shutdown.

A handful of workers remained, winding down operations, for a couple of weeks. By June 2009, when an auction was held to sell off equipment, machinery, brooms and spools of cable, and by July, when an Ohio businessman bought the property, round-the-clock maintenance and security on the one-million-square-foot building was a thing of the past.

With this week's announcement by the new owner, Jim Wallace, that most of the building would be demolished, readers of The Star Press and people who commented on social media wondered why the plant couldn't be saved.

Wallace and others familiar with the building's condition said it just wasn't possible to save it.

"The guy that bought it in 2009 took what he wanted out of it," Wallace told The Star Press. "Then after the auction, the vandals have been in. Vandals cut all the copper out of the place."

New locks were installed after Wallace took possession of the building in the past few days. By the next morning, two of the locks had been cut off and vandals had entered the building again.

While nostalgia for the plant, where thousands of people worked at its peak in the 1950s, might be high, Wallace said between the stripping of the building and the failing roof, there was little hope of salvaging the structure, which is more than a half-mile long.

Wallace hopes to save as much as 200,000 square feet that is in relatively good condition and could be leased.

"That is probably all that can be saved," he said.

A demolition permit for 850,000 square feet has been issued by the Muncie building commissioner's office.

Wallace said Wednesday that demolition workers are already on the site.

"We're tearing down the building," he said. Earlier this week, Wallace estimated that it could take six months to complete demolition. In the meantime and after, he said he would have the property mowed and cleaned up.

"It will be better looking than it is," he added.

Wallace also said he'd heard a proposal to sell bricks from the building to benefit the United Way. Demolition efforts will determine if the bricks are salvageable and concrete can be cleanly removed.

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.